DeLay urges Perry to call special session over Public Integrity Unit

AUSTIN – Tom DeLay is urging recently indicted Gov. Rick Perry to convene a special session to consider prosecutorial misconduct, with a particular focus on the Travis County District Attorney’s Public Integrity Unit.

The former U.S. House Majority Leader and many other Republicans think control of the unit, a state-funded entity with the power to investigate fraud and abuse allegations, should be shifted to the Office of the Attorney General. The idea has been discussed frequently since the unit’s creation by then-District Attorney Ronnie Earle, a Democrat, in the early 1980s.

“My advice to the governor is to call a special session and fix it,” said DeLay, who was also indicted by a Travis County grand jury in 2005 and continues to fight Lehmberg’s office on the charges today. He said the Public Integrity Unit should “most definitely” be housed in the Attorney General’s office.

The governor’s office did not immediately return a request for comment on whether Perry has considered a special session. Any effort to force the shift through legislation likely faces legal problems, however, as multiple previous attempts to do so faltered over separation of powers questions.

“He’s already made this political. He’s twisted the bribery law to fit the prosecution he wanted,” DeLay said of Michael McCrum, a San Antonio-based lawyer named to prosecute the case by Republican-appointed District Judge Bert Richardson. “This was started by Rosemary Lehmberg. And she used the system. Yes, she made it look good because she recused herself, but she set it up. She is very much a part of it.”

Mugshot of Gov. Rick Perry (Aug. 2014)

“You can’t get a grand jury in Travis County that’s not liberal and partisan,” DeLay added, saying of the indictment, “there’s no way at all that it could have been done in good faith.”

Grand jurors who spoke to the Chronicle in the wake of the indictment disagreed, saying they were offended by the governor and his supporters claiming their decision was based on any calculus other than the law and the evidence presented to them.

DeLay lauded the Perry team for how they’ve handled the indictment news so far, saying “he’s done a better job of it than I did.” He even called the governor’s marketing ploy to sell t-shirts with his mugshot on the front and Lehmberg’s on the back “good politics.”

He would not comment, however, on Perry’s decision to use taxpayer money to pay for the first $80,000 in expenses for his defense: “I have no position on that.”

He also wouldn’t say whether he supports Perry for a second run at the White House in 2016, saying the indictment would damage his chances unless he brings the litigation to a quick completion.

“It depends on the length of it. If he can get it dumped quickly, I think it can help him,” said DeLay. “I’m not going to pick a nominee this early.”

DeLay is awaiting a ruling on his own case in the state’s highest criminal court. While his 2011 conviction for money laundering and criminal conspiracy was overturned in 2013, Lehmberg’s office has appealed the dismissal. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals heard the case in June but is not expected to make a decision this year.

NOTE: The original version of this story incorrectly stated Tom DeLay was former U.S. House Speaker. The story has been corrected to reflect he was U.S. House Majority Leader.

Lauren McGaughy is a reporter in the Houston Chronicle’s Austin bureau. You can reach her at lauren.mcgaughy@chron.com or on Twitter @lmcgaughy.